Democracy is a way of life yet to be lived.

Gandhi

What does it mean to work together as equals? It involves a shared commitment to resisting the systems of oppression which exist in subtle interactions and glaring power dynamics. It involves resisting the perks of being in a privileged position over others. It also involves refusing to be oppressed by others. In the words of Vinoba Bhave –who carried Gandhi’s torch,

If I am under some other person’s command, where is my own self-government? Self-government means ruling over your own self. It is one mark of swaraj not to allow any outside power in the world to exercise control over oneself. And the second mark of swaraj is not to exercise power over any other. These two things together make swaraj –no submission and no exploitation. [Domestic values. Quoted in Anarchism Today. The MacMIllian Press. 1971. Edited by B.E Apter and James Joll.]